For The Record

News And Views From The Hallways Of Government

September 29, 1995|By For the Record is compiled by The Courant's politics and government staff.

Rowland Reshuffle III

The latest installment in the long- brewing, but still yet-to-happen restructuring of Gov. John G. Rowland's staff goes this way: George E. Krivda Jr. of Cromwell, now executive director of the state Republican Party, is the leading candidate to join (head?) Rowland's group of legislative operatives.

Krivda has long been active in Republican politics, and was director of legislative affairs for Senate Republicans for two years before assuming his present duties at GOP state headquarters. He was the GOP's executive director once before -- from 1989 to 1992 -- and has served on the GOP town committee first in Fairfield, where he previously lived, and now in Cromwell.

Krivda is the right hand to GOP state Chairman Richard Arnold, who said he has ``heard the rumors'' but the decision is not final.

Krivda's appointment is under discussion as the governor's four- member staff of legislative liaisons stands to lose two key members:

* H. Craig LeRoy, the top legislative aide, and adviser to the governor. He has said he plans to return to the private lobbying business after this fall's planned special session on a Bridgeport casino.

* In a new development, legislative aide Mark Brennan is said to be headed for a high-level appointment in the state health department. Brennan spent several years in an administrative job at Waterbury Hospital.

Now state Rep. J. Vincent Chase, R-Stratford, has coined a clever new term to describe a shadowy force with which he's at war: ``compassion fascists.''

Chase, a member of the legislature's regulations review committee, said they were to blame for Democratic votes last week against proposed changes to state welfare rules on child-care benefits.

The Democrats had expressed their reasons, but Chase wasn't buying. He said the whole thing was orchestrated from Washington by the ``compassion fascists.''

``This is just a ruse to try to halt the various items in our welfare reform package,'' he said.

Sen. George C. Jepsen,D-Stamford, asked Chase if he wished to identify the fascists to whom he referred. ``No, I don't wish to,'' Chase shot back.

``I think it's an inappropriate term that was deliberately used to inflame,'' Jepsen said. ``Oh, my heart bleeds,'' Chase snarled.

The regulations were blocked as only the five Republicans present voted to approve them. It takes eight votes. But the Democrats couldn't muster eight votes to reject them, either. So the regs are in limbo. If neither side prevails by November, the rules automatically take effect.

In an effort to spur interest in government among young people, the state has launched a pilot program, called ``Kids Voting Connecticut,'' that will focus on education for nearly 8,000 students in Bridgeport and Ansonia.

The program, which is a public- private partnership, provides a curriculum of six to 12 hours of class time for students from kindergarten through high school. The project peaks on Election Day when students step into the booth for an unofficial vote.

Rowland predicted that the program will increase voter turnout in the two municipalities, but he avoided making his traditional comment that his hometown often has a turnout of 110 percent.

``Being from Waterbury, we take voting very seriously,'' Rowland told a crowd of students and parents at the Capitol this week. ``I won't say anything more than that because we want to keep this serious.''

Chairman of the board

Rowland will become chairman of the New England Governors' Conference on Jan. 1. He will succeed New Hampshire Gov. Stephen Merrill as leader of the six chief executives who discuss issues of common interest in the region. The states, except New Hampshire, have joined together for a Yankee presidential primary on March 5.